Heat treating basket



April 11, 1961 c. BIXBY HEAT TREATING BASKET Filed May 5, 1958 LEON BIA 5V 14/5 flTTOF/VEVS HEAT TREATING BASKET Leon 0. Bixby, Fairgrounds Road, Wellington, Ohio Filed May 5, 1958, Ser. No. 733,081

3 Claims. (Cl. 263-47) This invention relates to improvements in baskets for use in heat treating operations and the like and more particularly to an improved frame construction for heat treat baskets, although the invention is not necessarily so limited.

In heat treating small articles it is frequently the practice to place the articles in a porous metallic basket, to expose the articles and the basket to the prescribed heat, and then to quench the articles still in the basket in a suitable cooling bath. The basket is made porous to enable efiicient movement of the cooling liquid into and out of the basket. In this type of operation the heat treat basket is repeatedly subjected to high then relatively low temperatures, such that the metal of the basket undergoes repeated expansion and contraction. It follows that the basket construction must be such as to allow for free expansion and contraction in all parts of the basket.

An object of this invention is to provide a porous metallic heat treating basket so designed that the individual parts of the basket are permitted to expand and contract substantially independently of one another.

Another object of this invention is to provide a porous metallic basket having an improved frame construction including a floating inner frame member providing handles for the basket, which inner frame member does not restrict the free expansion and contraction of the remaining elements of the basket.

Another object of this invention is to provide a metallic heat treat basket of simple and economic construction readily assembledfrom conventional stocks.

Other objects and advantages reside in the construction of parts, the combination thereof, the method of manufacture and the mode of operation, as will become more apparent from the following description.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the heat treat basket of this invention with portions broken away to reveal structural detail.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the inner frame member for the basket.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of a looped wire element utilized in the construction of the basket.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail, there is illustrated in Figure 2 an inner frame member 10, upon which the basket of this invention is assembled. This frame member includes a pair of parallel substantially U-shaped side pieces 12 connected at their ends by cross bars 14a and 14b. Preferably, the side pieces 12 and cross bars 14a and 14b are formed from a single piece of bar stock, the ends of the bar stock meeting in the cross bar 14b as illustrated. Depending upon the structural requirements for the basket, these ends may be welded together.

The side pieces 12 of the inner frame member 10 are each provided with a plurality of apertures 16 disposed in spaced relation, with the apertures in the two side pieces aligned in transverse pairs. Referring to Figatent O ice j ure 1, support rods 18 are projected through these transverse pairs of apertures. The inner frame member 10 supports these support rods 18 in three planes, the support rods being the nucleus of end walls and a bottom for the heat treat basket.

In projecting the rods 18 through the aligned apertures 16, they are threaded alternately through looped wire elements 20 and spacer elements 24. The wire elements 20 are best illustrated in Figure 3, these wire elements being formed with equispaced loops 22 throughout the length thereof.

The wire elements 20, the spacer elements 24 and the transverse support rods 18 cooperate to provide a rectangular array or lattice structure supported by the inner frame member 10, so as to provide end walls and a bottom for the heat treat basket. Side walls for the basket are assembled upon frame members and 32, there being one set of frame members 30 and 32 on each side of the heat treat basket, as illustrated in Figure 1.

These frame members 30 and. 32 are formed from conventional angle bar stock, the frame member 30 having right angularly disposed flanges 34 and 36. At points spaced from the ends of the length of angle bar stock forming the frame member 30, the flange 34 is 1 cut away as illustrated at 38 While the flange 36 is bent substantially at right angles in its own plane to form the frame member 30. The frame member 32 is thus provided with right angularly disposed flanges 42 and 44, the flange 42 being bent at right angles in its own plane to form legs 46 for the frame. member.

The frame members 30 and 32' at each side of the basket are positioned in opposing relation with their leg portions 41} and 46, respectively, juxtaposed. Aligned apertures in the leg portions 40 and 46 receive the ends of the support rods 18 of the lattice structure. The extreme ends of these support rods are upset to secure the outer frame elements 30 and 32 to the heat treat basket.

As clearly illustrated in Figure l, the frame members 30 and 32 are so assembled in the basket that the flanges 34 and 44, respectively, of these frame members project outwardly from the sides of the basket. Suitably spaced apertures are provided in these flanges for the receipt of support rods 50 extending between these flanges, these support rods being threaded alternately through spacer elements 54 and looped wire elements 52 so as to construct a rectangular array or lattice structure enclosing the sides of the heat treat basket. The extreme ends 56 of the wire elements 52 are extended over the juxtaposed legs 40 and 46 of the frame elements 30 and 32 to fully close the sides of the basket.

It is to be noted that the heat treat basket of Figure 1 is so constructed that the support rods 18 and 50 of the rectangular lattice work in the basket can expand and contract independently of the inner and outer frame members 10, 30 and 32 for the basket. Additionally, the wire elements 20 and 52 and the spacer elements 24 and 54 can expand and contract substantially independently of the support rods and the frame members for the basket. In this respect, it is found preferable to assemble the rectangular lattices loosely, that is, with play between the spacer elements and wire elements at room temperatures.

In the completed heat treat basket the cross bars 14a and 14b of the inner frame member 10 provide handles for the basket. When these handles are used to carry parts in the basket, the entire weight is borne by the inner frame member. This construction keeps stress on the lattice structures for the basket at a minimum.

In fabricating this heat treat basket, it is found preferable to preform the wire elements 20 and 52 from a suitable alloy such as Inconel. The remaining elements making up the basket may be iron, steel, or any other suitable material.

Although the preferred embodiment of the device has been described, it will be understood that within the purview of this invention various changes may be made in the form, details, proportion and arrangement of parts, the combination thereof and mode of operation, which generally stated consist in a device capable of carrying out the objects set forth, as disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a basket, a plurality of rods and means supporting said rods in spaced parallel relation in a generally U-shaped configuration to form the bottom and ends for the basket, said means including a pair of side walls for the basket each comprising a pair of generally U-shaped frame elements, the first of the frame elements in each side wall cooperating with the rods to form the bottom and ends for the basket, the second of said frame elements being inverted with respect to the first, said first and second frame elements having juxtaposed leg portions, said leg. portions having aligned apertures therein receiving the ends of those rods which form the ends for the basket, said first frame elements having apertures therein receiving the ends of those rods which form the bottom for said basket, said rods having the extreme ends thereof enlarged beyond the size of the apertures in said frame elements so as to trap the frame elements thereon.

2. In a porous metallic basket, a one piece inner frame member comprising spaced parallel substantially U-shaped side pieces and cross bars spanning the extreme ends of said side pieces, each side piece having a plurality of spaced apertures therein, the apertures of one side piece being aligned with the apertures of the other side piece, a plurality of support rods projecting through the aligned apertures in said inner frame member, said support rods extending transversely of said side pieces and being supported in spaced parallel relation by said inner frame member in positions corresponding to the opposite ends and the bottom of said basket, a plurality of wire elements extending parallel to said side pieces, each said wire element having spaced loops therein encircling successive support rods, said wire elements extending from one end of the basket to the other, means spacing said wire elements equidistant along said support rods, said wire elements and said support rods cooperating to form a rectangular lattice structure, and means engaging the ends of said support rods providing side walls for said basket, said side walls each including a pair of substantially U- shaped outer frame elements, the first of the outer frame elements in each side wall being parallel to and spaced from the side pieces of said inner frame member, the second of the outer frame elements in each side wall being inverted with respect to the first, the first and second outer frame elements in each side wall having juxtaposed leg portions, said juxtaposed leg portions having spaced apertures passing therethrough receiving the ends of the support rods which form the opposite 'ends for said basket, said first outer frame elements having spaced apertures therein receiving the ends of the support rods which form the bottom for said basket, the support rods having upset ends which cooperate to secure said outer frame elements to said lattice structure.

3. A porous metallic basket according to claim 2 wherein the side walls for the basket include means providing a rectangular lattice of parallel spaced support rods and transverse looped wire elements between the outer frame elements at each side of said basket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 419,907 Armstrong et a1 Ian. 21, 1890 928,762 Insinger July 20, 1909 1,436,869 Eggert et al. Nov. 28, 1922 1,463,124 McConnell July 24, 1923 2,420,428 Hill et a1. May 13, 1947 2,690,265 Bixby Sept. 28, 1954 2,774,505 Ipsen Dec. 18, 1956 

